The premise catches one's eye, certainly, promising all the blood and gore a fan of horror cinema could want. But it was reading about the production that piqued my interest. It's one matter to note the experience Fujiwara Kei boasts in her career, both in her collaborations with Tsukamoto Shinya and elsewhere. It's another matter to learn of the extremely low budget; the personal involvement of the cast to also serve as crew members while effectively funding the endeavor themselves; the sets and materials that were quite literally cobbled together; and the apparent necessitated frugality of shooting only one take for any given scene so as to conserve film stock. Some terrific movies have been made with little more than earnest care and hard work, and the nitty gritty of this project is endearing, and even kind of inspiring. I admit that without particularly thinking about it I formed high expectations on the basis of these factors; 'Organ' seemed to be primed for a good time.
I'm therefore sad to say that my expectations have been only party met, a mixed success, and I'm a little disappointed. I really do admire the effort that all involved poured into this flick, and they are to be roundly commended for their contributions, including committed acting. Nasa Kenji's music is applied somewhat unevenly, but the synth-driven themes are nonetheless a treat for the ears, lending to the dark aura about the proceedings. The production design and art direction are splendid, being drab and dreary and full of detail, and in my opinion they never betray their humble origins. The costume design, hair, and makeup are sharp. Sometimes Fujiwara's direction or cinematography are particularly striking. There really are some swell ideas on hand. And there's certainly no mistaking that the blood, gore, special makeup, and otherwise practical effects are excellent, and decidedly nasty; it's evident how much attention went into this foremost attraction of the picture, and all involved turned in fine work to being the seedy tableau to bear in the most vividly disgusting manner.
Unfortunately, not everything in this feature received the same degree of focus. While some examples are great, at other points I'm distinctly unimpressed with how this was shot, and at some points the direction and cinematography come off as sloppy. Nasa's music is appreciable, but his editing is surely less so, and some of the sequencing plainly raises a skeptical eyebrow as it dubiously chops up the proceedings. And for as strong as the effects are, the narrative that sets the stage for them is simply a mess. There are good ideas, yes, but from the very start the storytelling is wildly incohesive, and almost incoherent. 'Organ' is so-so about identifying its characters, and the scene writing struggles to cogently convey the beats and underlying notions that one would suppose should advance and enrich the story. Under all these circumstances the plot development is desperately scattered, and all we can hope for in terms of a narrative is not concrete information, but broad vibes imparting a very loose idea of the course of events. I can tell you some of what happens throughout the runtime, but that's in no small part thanks to the outside context of a synopsis that someone else wrote. This title is not an abstruse mind-bender; it should not be necessary to trust in someone else's description to help discern what is transpiring.
It's hardly that the film is outright bad. It doesn't quite seem right to criticize it for being generally unpolished, either, because that's just the nature of how it was made. Yet there's no question that for all the skill, intelligence, and passion that genuinely went into the production, the least of it all went into the writing, and in turn to ensuring that the plot was meaningfully established in execution. Granted, on the one hand one could argue that plot isn't specifically integral to a flick about murder and illicit organ trade; on the other hand, Fujiwara obviously meant for this to have solid storytelling as an anchor for the gruesome madness, and that is absolutely not what happened here. If all you want out of genre fare is crimson and viscera, you'll get what you came for, but it's apparent enough that on account of her own shortcomings as writer and director Fujiwara's vision fails to fully crystallize, and as far as I'm concerned the violence and ugliness in and of itself just isn't enough to compensate. I don't dislike 'Organ,' but it altogether comes up short in what it was meant to be, and any recommendation I might offer is only a very soft one tempered with caveats.
